Larry Brown Says New Block-Charge Rule is Terrible

As the college basketball season commences, many coaches around the country are trying to adjust to the new NCAA rules that have been added this season. In an attempt to make college basketball less physical and increase scoring, the NCAA has changed the block-charge rule making it nearly impossible to draw a charge.

College basketball is mimicking the NBA’s process but if players do not adjust this could have the opposite effect. SMU’s head coach Larry Brown is not a fan of the new rules. According to CBS Sports the coach sat down with the Fort Worth Star Telegram to give his take on the new rules and how they will affect college basketball.

“I saw it in the NBA and it was terrible,” Brown said after SMU’s season-opening victory over TCU on Friday night. “I couldn’t agree more with freedom of movement and trying to open up the game, but I’ve said this my entire career — until you figure out how to have more shots, you’re not going to get more scoring by putting people on the free throw line. That’s going to be the end result.”

Brown predicts due to the new rules, more teams will play zone to protect their players from getting into foul trouble.

“Make kids more fundamentally sound, teach them how to pass and catch and cut and shoot and then you’d have a better game,” Brown said. “We’re playing them too young, we’re not working enough on fundamentals. We’re putting them into systems rather than teaching them how to play.”

In addition to the block-charge rule, the rules for post defense have changed as well. A defender will no longer be allowed to extend his forearm or ‘arm bar’ into the back of a post player backing him down in the post. The previous rule allowed you to use your arm bar until the offensive player faced the basket. Basically, the only defense now is to block the shot.

There will definitely be an adjustment period for players. I predict a lot of fouls and free throws being shot which will slow the game down, hurting it more than helping it.